The audit of the school year, 2010/11 for the Bluewater District School Board has been done and the board ended up with a 27 thousand dollar operating deficit.
The deficit is small because the board had to take some 900 thousand dollars from reserves to balance the budget to within 1% of its goal, as mandated by the province.
Chartered accountant Elaine Bohnert says the board faces financial challenges due to declining enrolment, the implementation of full-day kindergarten programs at some schools and pressure from increasing costs.
She says although the numbers don’t look bad this year, the board cannot continually go to reserves to make up the difference of deficits.
Board treasurer Brenda Booth says on a 200-million-dollar budget — a 27 thousand dollar deficit is essentially zero and will not impact the 2011/12 school year that we’re in now.
Booth says their goal now is to build up the reserves for working funds, which sits at just over 400 thousand dollars, for emergencies down the road.
She says they need a safeguard mechanism in effect for the upcoming budget process.
